


Harvesting Love Among Your Woes

by inksheddings



Category: NCIS
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-26
Updated: 2010-12-26
Packaged: 2017-10-14 03:22:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/144804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inksheddings/pseuds/inksheddings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Written for Day 21, LiveJournal's tibbs_yuletide community.</p></blockquote>





	Harvesting Love Among Your Woes

"Are you sure Jack's not gonna mind?" Tony asked for the third time.

Gibbs gripped the steering wheel a little tighter before answering, for the third time. "I already told you — he said it was fine. The words actually passed through his lips and everything, DiNozzo."

It was true, Jack had been more than happy to have Tony join them for the holiday. Happy and curious too, as evidenced when he'd tentatively asked how many beds he should make up for the two of them. Gibbs had been too shocked to answer properly for a second too long, and his dad had just laughed and said, "Why don't we just play that by ear," before hanging up.

"I know, it's just ..." Tony let his words hang there as he looked out the window at the snow-covered scenery.

Gibbs knew what it 'just' was to Tony. DiNozzo Sr. had called Tony yesterday from Sioux Falls Regional Airport in South Dakota, just before the team was calling it quits for the day. He was snowed in, possibly until close to New Year's. Gibbs still didn't trust the man all that much — and what kind of business deals would he likely have been cooking up in Sioux Falls, anyway? — but after breaking the news to Tony he'd asked to speak with Gibbs.

"Happy holidays, Agent Gibbs," DiNozzo Sr. greeted boisterously enough, but Gibbs could hear an edge of desperation that sounded all too familiar. "I'd be there if I could and ... damn. I should have left days ago, but I didn't and now —"

"I'll take care of it, Mr. DiNozzo."

"I'd rather you took care of him."

"That's what I said."

Which is how Gibbs and Tony ended up together, halfway to Stillwater, Pennsylvania, on Christmas Eve. They'd stopped for breakfast before hitting the road early this morning, but Gibbs could use another cup of coffee so he pulled off at one of the exits near Harrisburg.

"I mean," Tony continued, "I don't even have a present for Jack. I doubt he'd have liked what I'd got for my dad. Hell, my dad probably wouldn't have liked what I got him. I'm sure he owns dozens of pairs of silver cufflinks. If he hasn't sold them all, that is."

Gibbs really wanted that cup of coffee, but he screeched the truck to a stop on the side of the road about a quarter-mile before the gas station. He resisted the urge to whack Tony on the back of the head because, honestly, Tony didn't deliver these rambling monologues all that often anymore. Besides the sudden stop — and accompanying slip-slide in the snow — seemed to have the desired result. Tony shut up and looked at Gibbs as if he'd lost his mind.

"Uh, Boss, coffee's still a little bit that way." Tony pointed toward the front windshield.

Gibbs relaxed his grip on the steering wheel and tried hard not to smile. He hadn't told Tony why they were pulling off the highway, but he'd known anyway. Now Gibbs just needed Tony to figure out a few more important things.

"Tony, there was no possible way your dad could have made it to you on time for Christmas."

Tony cocked his head, which made for a funny picture considering he was still pointing toward the gas station. "How do you — oh." Tony dropped his hand to his lap and leaned back against his seat. "You had his call traced."

Gibbs nodded. "Bounced off a cell tower in Sioux Falls. Also checked the situation at the airport. There was no way your dad was getting out of there until at least day after tomorrow."

Gibbs watched as Tony's posture relaxed, his entire body seeming to melt into the upholstery. "I really do want to trust him."

Fathers and sons. No matter how much headway Tony and DiNozzo Sr. might make in their relationship, this was likely one area that would always have Tony reacting like the kid he used to be, wondering why he was getting shipped off to boarding school. The issues between Gibbs and his own dad were quite different, but Gibbs still understood where Tony was coming from, and he found himself wanting to reach out and place his hand on the back of Tony's head without any of the usual violence.

But there — truck still sitting at the side of the road and the air in the cab thick with more than just the winter chill — was that curiosity Gibbs valued so damn much on the job, shining in Tony's eyes and catching the shift in Gibbs' emotions. Jack's words about bedrooms and linens and bathroom etiquette rang in Gibbs' ears a little too loud.

Luckily, Tony shook himself out of it and looked back out the window, allowing Gibbs to get back to the business at hand. They still had about a two-hour drive ahead of them, after all.

"But I still don't have a present for Jack," Tony said, regretfully.

Gibbs grunted his acknowledgment as he pulled back out onto the road.

"Does that mean that you have one for me?" Gibbs asked as he approached the gas station parking lot.

Gibbs could feel the tension coming off Tony in waves as they parked and got out of the truck. But this time Gibbs let himself smile openly at Tony's discomfort, which seemed to do the trick, since Tony smiled back brightly and took a slightly too-close step toward Gibbs.

"Buy you a cup of coffee, Boss?"

 

 **end**

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Day 21, LiveJournal's tibbs_yuletide community.


End file.
